Dealcoholizing apparatus



vR. H. PFLUGFELDER. EALCOHOLIKZING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I7, 1919.

1,396,232, Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT H. PFLUGFELDER, OF (HlICAC-uro7 ILLINOIS.

DEALcoHoLIzING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 8. 1921.

Application led February 17, 1919. Serial No, 277,416.

provision of apparatus of'thisv characterwherein the amount of heated area in contact with beer or other liquor being treated shall vary proportionately with the amount of such liquorpassed through the apparatus.H

Another object is .the provision of a. very compact device of this kind so arranged as to provide an extremely attenuatedv heated path to be traversed by the liquor treated.

. VOther objects and advantages -of the invention will appear from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical central through my improved apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Reference numeral 10 indicates a tank, preferably in the form of an upright cvlinder, in which the de-alcoholizing action takes place. Inclosing the sides and bottom of the tank and spaced therefrom is a hot water jacket 11, the latter forming, with the tank. a hot Water chamber 12. The tank and chamber are sealed by a cover 13, conical in shape, communicating at its apex with the pipe 14.- of an exhausting pump not shown. The pipe 14 may be any pipe in which a sufficient degree of vacuum is maintained to draw from tank 10 the alcohol 'evaporated from the liquor being treated. Y f

At 15 is shown a horizontally disposed beer inlet pipe which traverses the hot water chamber and discharges into the tank 10` near the top thereof, and at 16 is seen the outlet for the de-alcoholized beer, this outlet traversing the hot water chamber 12 and draining outside the jacket 11. I-Iot water enters the bottom of the water chamber 12 through an intake pipe 17,4 and passes out of the chamber through a waste pipe 18 positioned near but slightly below the upper end of the chamber. v v

section The tank 10 is provided interiorly with anv attenuated helical shelf 19 the upper end of which is substantially flush with the bottom of the beer inlet pipe 15. This shelf is secured in any suitable manner to the vertical cylindrical wall of tank 10 and projects in wardly and upwardly into the tank, form ing, with the wall of the tank, a long gently sloping channel 21 through which the beer passes. From inlet pipe 15 near the top of the tank shelf 19 follows a vhelical path downl ward, and terminates as at 22 at the bottom of the verticalrcylmdrical portion of the Atank wall. Throughout its extent the shelf 19 is transversely corrugated from its outer to its inner edge to provide ridges 23 and c depressions 241 throughout the extent of the shelf. The `shelf,19 is preferably straight -in cross section from its -outer edge where it is joined to thetank wall 10 to a point adjacent its inner edge, and the inner edge 25 is preferably curved sharply upward in order to increase the holding capacit;7 of channel 21. It will be noted that the width of the channel formed by wall 10 and shelf 19 is considerably greater than the diameter of the beer inlet pipe 15, and that in depth channel 21 is approximately equal to the diameter of the inlet pipe 15. Inlet pipe 15 may enter tank 10 radially of the tank, as indicated in full lines in Fig. 1, or it may communicate with the tank tangentially. as indicated in dotted lines at 15"i in Fig. 2. @bviously there will be less liability for the incoming beer to spill over the inner edge of shelf 19 if the beer inlet pipe communicatesl tangentially with the interior of the tank and channel'21.

In the operation of my invention beer is supplied to channel 21 from the beer inlet pipe in any desired quantity while chamber 12 is kept filled with hot water and the pressure within the tank lowered by the evacuating action of the alcohol exhaust pipe 14:. The incoming beer flows around and around the interior of the tank from top to bottom thereof through channel 21 and is continuously in contact with the heated wall of the tank, the heat of this wall being sufficient to evaporate the alcohol from the beer, and the evaporated alcohol being drawn off through pipe 14. The residual liquor is drained oil' through the liquor discharge pipe 16.' In its movement along channel 21, the beer constantly rises over the ridges 23 and falls into the depressions 24 whereby its progress y contact between beer to be treated and the through the tank is delayed so greatly as to insure the evaporation of all the alcohol. It will be noted that channel 21 is in the shape of a V with its apexrpointing downward. The beer supplied through the channel in any given quantity will of course traverse lthe bottom of the channel and contact with the heated wall l0 throughout a given area of that wall. and throughout a given area of the shelf 19. Thus, if the inowing beer is increased in volume, the area of contact between the beer and the heated wall 10 is also increased, so that, regardless of the amount of beer supplied to the channel, the rate of evaporation of alcohol remains practically constant, providing of course that sufficient heat is applied to the outer side of wall l0. By joining shelf 19 directly to the heated wall l0 of the tank, the conduction of heat to the beer is facilitated, as a veryl appreciable amount of heat passes from the Wall to the shelf and thence into the beer. By the arrangement of a helical shelf within a tank I attain an extremely compact structure and a greatly attenuated channel for beer; also, by using the heated'wall 10 as one side of a down-pointed, V.-shaped evaporating channel, I provide that the area of Vheated surface shall vary in direct propor- An apparatus of the characterdescribed,Y

comprising Va tank having upright walls' and a shelf secured at its outerV edge along a ,helical linevto the inner surface of said walls,

said shelf being provided with transverse eorrugations extending from edge to. edge thereof, and having its inner edge disposed above its outer edge to provide 1nV conjunction with the tank walls a substantially V- shaped channel thefcoriugated wall of which formed by saidvshelf serves to agitate and delay the liquidiowing along said channel' to thereby facilitate the' evaporationk of a desired portion thereof. f

f In testimony whereof I have 'aiXed my signature; i

ROBERT H. PFLUGFELDER. 

